It has been widely discussed this week that an application has been made for a patent over a pre-salted potato chip (crisp).
It has reportedly been filed by ActionAid UK in an attempt to demonstrate that the Patent system is in disarray and needs re-thinking and that big corporations abuse the system.
However the application is likely to be fruitless given the likelihood that it will be refused under lack of novelty (i.e. a salted potato crisp already exists) and that it lacks inventive step (i,e. it is an obvious step to add salt to a crisp).
